Manulife adds gender benefits
Manulife Financial Corp. has added gender- affirmation coverage that pays for some surgeries and other treatments for its transgender employees in the U. S. and Canada, putting the insurer in a select group of companies that offer such benefits.
The coverage includes surgeries such as Adam’s apple reductions, cheek or breast augmentation and treatments like voice training, the Toronto-based insurer and wealth manager said Tuesday.
The addition of benefits for transgender employees puts Manulife in a rare and shrinking group of employers who cover such procedures. Only about seven per cent of U. S. employers pay for gender reassignment surgery, according to a 2019 study from the Society for Human Resource Management. That’s down from 10 per cent in 2017, echoing a decline in other coverages geared to specific groups such as bariatric weight-loss surgery and in-vitro fertilization, the group said.
“As the needs of our employees evolve, the benefits we offer have to as well,” Manulife chief human resources officer Pam Kimmet said in a statement. “Families take many forms, such as single parents, same- sex couples, and transitioning transgender family members. And we look to support these different journeys.”
In Canada, where health care is publicly funded, most provinces’ and territories’ plans cover some gender- affirmation procedures, though many surgeries aren’t covered and many aren’t available to be performed in certain provinces, according to the Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health. Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial Inc. began selling gender affirmation coverage last year that employers can use to fill in gaps in provincial or territorial plans.
Manulife also announced on Tuesday that it has expanded family-leave support for Canadian employees to 20 weeks of paid maternity leave and 12 weeks of paid parental and adoption leave, starting next year. The company also has added medical marijuana coverage in Canada for certain health conditions.
Manulife has 35,000 employees worldwide, including 18,000 in Canada and the U.S.